Put principles over party

There is no question that President Donald Trump has been good for many businesses.

His administration has removed many regulations that businesses did not approve of. The tax cuts he helped usher into law have helped many companies save money. There is reason for business owners and executives to support the president and his policies.

That can no longer matter.

The president’s performance at Monday’s press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin is proof that his stewardship of this country cannot be trusted.

Trump is taking the word of a brutal dictator—who has a history of lying without compunction—over his own intelligence agencies and congressional committees.

Every American governmental agency that has looked into the matter agrees that Russia meddled in America’s 2016 elections. There is widespread disagreement over whether they were successful, whether they colluded with Americans and whether the Trump campaign was involved, but there is no disagreement over this point: They tried to affect the elections.

Trump stood on the world stage Monday next to the leader of a longtime adversary and said that the FBI, the CIA, the NSA and the House and Senate Intelligence committees are all wrong and that he believes Putin.

“I have great confidence in my intelligence people, but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today,” Trump said Monday.

Whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia is irrelevant. Whether Trump’s words at Monday’s press conference amount to treason—as some are claiming—is irrelevant.

What matters is that Trump is listening to a foreign power over his own government.

No matter how much you are benefiting from Trump’s policies, that should terrify you. It is incumbent on the Republican Party to take steps to prevent Trump from harming our democracy.

Business people, even if they are happy with the Trump administration’s policy decisions, must tell their representatives in Congress that their principles are more important than their profits.

You might also like

2 comments

The RBJ editorial team should be careful before they claim moral superiority and assert that President Trump’s stewardship of the country cannot be “trusted.”

Principles. Seriously? What hypocrisy!

As a veteran and the father of two veterans, I am not excusing Trump’s hyperbole or lying. But, I and many others still trust him on the substance of his decisions and actions for the good of our country.

Like many citizens, I have difficulty “trusting” our institutions such as the CIA whose former leader, George Tenet, told President George W. Bush that it was a “slam dunk” that Saddam Hussein had WMDs. Now we have 4,400+ KIA American service men and women, 15+ veteran suicides a day, and 100,000+ wounded over an invasion that should never have happened.

Like many citizens, I have difficulty “trusting” the FBI whose former leader, Jim Comey, failed in his duty to pursue legal action against Secretary Hillary Clinton’s for having top secret emails on her private server. Clinton’s security breach was so gross that had our Marine son or Coast Guard daughter committed a fraction of this offense, either would have been swiftly jailed for violating their security clearances. And, let’s not forget former top counter-terrorism expert, Peter Strzok, who issued a string of disgustingly biased texts against candidate Trump; all the while supposedly investigating Trump for allegations of Russian collusion based on a shady dossier that has yet to be proven after two years of investigation. Worse, Strzok’s mistress, FBI Lawyer Lisa Page, confirms that the anti-Trump texts sent by Strzok ‘Mean Exactly What They Say.’

I could not find a single RBJ editorial team opinion regarding Secretary Hillary Clinton’s pressing of the “reset button” with Russia in 2009. Or, an editorial condemning President Obama when he told then Russian President Medvedev, that he would have “more flexibility” to deal with Russia AFTER the U.S. 2012 presidential election. Or, a commentary regarding President Obama’s ridiculing of Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney during the 2012 election for saying that Russia was America’s “biggest geopolitical threat.”

If the RBJ Editors want to talk about stewardship and trust, they should consider the March 19, 2018, Monmouth University Poll of American citizens which found: “a large bipartisan majority feel that national policy is being manipulated or directed by a “Deep State” of unelected government officials. The results of the poll find that “Just over half of the public is either very worried (23%) or somewhat worried (30%) about the U.S. government monitoring their activities and invading their privacy. There are no significant partisan differences – 57% of independents, 51% of Republicans, and 50% of Democrats are at least somewhat worried the federal government is monitoring their activities… Fully 8-in-10 believe that the U.S. government currently monitors or spies on the activities of American citizens, including a majority (53%) who say this activity is widespread and another 29% who say such monitoring happens but is not widespread. Just 14% say this monitoring does not happen at all. There are no substantial partisan differences in these results.”

As the above examples show, the RBJ editors may not be much different than the vast majority of the left leaning media: They don’t let the truth get in the way of their understanding. Is it any wonder why many Americans don’t “trust” the media’s stewardship of the truth?

Very Astute Observation, Mr. Demarco.
You could not be more right. It takes real life experience to gain the necessary wisdom to have the big picture of what is really happening and not the media’s egotistical, arrogant and mindless spinning of Fake-Echo-Chamber-Syndrome!
Thank you!